Map of Transantarctic Mountains

The Transantarctic Mountains are an extreme example of rift flank uplift, extending over 3500 km across Antarctica and reaching elevations up to 4500 m (see map of the region). The mountain range was formed in the extensional environment associated with the breakup of Gondwanaland. Geological and geophysical work has shown that the Transantarctic Mountains developed along a long-lived lithospheric boundary between East and West Antarctica reactivated by a complex history of extensional and translational microplate motions. The Transantarctic Mountains are not uniform along strike. The variability in fundamental architecture along the mountain range indicates that neither a single event nor a sequence of identical events produced the rift flank uplift.